Time consensus, sneakers and smart contracts, a step-by-step intro

There is indeed much talk on the internet of all the benefits of smart contracts. However little has been said so far as to the way they will function. Being among the absolute minority of companies able to offer a full-fledged product, Confideal is planning to remove the mystery behind smart contract and give regular people the ability to create and execute smart contracts.

A non-tech intro into the technology

A few issues to be kept in mind:

“Smart stands for a program”

What is typical for any program is that it executes in the manner and order as is predetermined by its creator. That is what we mean when we call such contracts smart.

“Contract is an agreed list of ones rights and obligations”.

That is to say, it’s an agreement, which regardless of its form (even if it’s oral or written on a Kleenex) provides some rights and obligations that must be undertaken by both parties.

Now, if we combine the two notions we get a “smart contract” — agreement laid down in the form of code, with conditions that are automatically fulfilled. If everything were that trite, there would be little point in extolling the virtues of smart contracts, because all that happens is that we replace a legal intermediary — a lawyer (or any other embodiment of legal bureaucracy) with a technical one, a programmer. However, even here, nothing has changed. As Danny Boyle’s iconic character Spud puts it,

“First there is an opportunity, then there is a betrayal”.

As to the contracts, nothing stands in the way of possible abuse and violations. This is where the blockchain comes in. This technology makes it possible to completely restrict any chance of fraudulent interference.

How can one make such a contract?

Before platforms for creating smart contracts, the process would go as follows: you go to the programmer, he writes you some code at a fabulous price, you receive your smart contract, and repeat this action, again and again, each time you need one. In addition, you are protected neither from a mistake, nor from the fact that each contract will be different, since written by a different person.

On the contrary, using a platform allows us to streamline and refine the process, taking away all its complexity.

A few things shod be said here.

First, is that there is a possibility of a complete protection of one’s personal data without prejudice to one’s deal.

Second, the users of the platform can determine the so-called time consensus period. Imagine a real-life situation, when you need to have sneakers delivered from place A, to place B. You create a smart contract, and transfer a certain sum of money to it. Let’s say, the arranged time for the delivery is 3 days. You receive your sneakers and the contract automatically closes, and sends money to the supplier. What if the merchant sends you the wrong size or color?

Fortunately, the parties agree on a period (for example, 24 hours), during which either party can approve or disapprove the received product, and try to solve the problems, which may occur. If all the smart contract conditions are met and no objections raised, the contract automatically executes and the deal closes. In case a dispute arises, the agreement will be subject to the dispute resolution medium to your choice — mediation or arbitration, conducted on Confideal platform.

If compared with the current state of affairs all these stages take place separately and require time, effort and the money spent on legal, financial and judicial services. With Confideal, all this may be efficiently managed through the platform quicker, easier and cheaper, especially for the happy owners of CDL tokens.

If there is some questions left, watch this video, which explains how Confideal smart contracts work.